POLL: FANS STILL SUPPORT NFL
More than three of four Americans say they will watch NFL games, whether on TV or in person, as much as they always have — but 14% say they’ll watch fewer games because of recent allegations of domestic violence by some players, according to a USA TODAY Sports poll.
Marc Ganis, a leading sports consultant, doesn’t think all of the 14% mean what they say.
“It’s an answer that some people may want to give for the hotbutton issue of the day, but I suspect that the people who regularly watch NFL games will continue to watch them,” Ganis said. “The ratings are up, especially for CBS, and I suspect we’ll see more of that as the season goes on.”
The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted Sept. 18-21 by Princeton Survey Research, with a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points.
uAsked if the NFL and its teams should take action against players accused of violent crimes as soon as the league learns of them, or wait for legal resolution, 52% said wait for the outcome and 40% said take action right away.
Women were more likely than men to say the league should take action right away, by 45% to 35%. The league and teams have received blistering criticism for their handling of recent cases, including former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s assault on his then-fiancée in a casino elevator in February.
uAsked if the NFL has been too lenient or too harsh in its handling of players, 43% said the league has been too lenient, 11% said it has been too harsh and 27% said the penalties have been about right.
Women were more likely than men to say the league has been too lenient, by 48% to 39%.
But Ganis, president of Chicago-based consulting firm SportsCorp, said, “People will watch the games regardless of who the owner is or which network is broadcasting them for the simple reason that people love NFL football. Its season is in cadence with American life, from back-to-school through Christmas and New Year’s. That’s not going to change because some cretin punched his wife at a casino in New Jersey.”